Tax residence status check urged for UK expats

Kevin White, Head of UK Financial Planning at deVere United Kingdom, said: "The statutory residence test aims to remove any grey areas when determining someone’s residence status for tax purposes in the UK. Existing rules, to a large extent, depend on cases decided by the courts.

"Currently, anyone who is in the UK for 183 days or more in any one tax year, or more than 90 days on average per tax year over four years, will be classified as a UK resident, and someone who spends no time in the UK is unlikely to be resident.

"However, the new SRT, which will be divided into three parts – including tests to discover if an individual is ‘automatically non-resident’ or ‘automatically resident’ – will also analyse an individual’s connections with and number of ties to the UK. These include family, property, work and social connections."

He said: "Although certain aspects of the new legislation require further clarity, we welcome the modernised system of deciding someone’s tax residency, as it will clearly and quickly define who is able to take financial advantage of their expat status and who is able to benefit from the myriad of other opportunities that tax-efficient financial planning provides.

"As such, we’re urging British expats who spend part of the tax year in the UK and part of it overseas to make sure they are familiar with the new rules and to seek advice on the issue of tax residency from their financial adviser sooner rather than later."